Budget book



Oct. 26 1926. 1,604,476

H. v. O'BRIEN BUDGET BOOK Filed June 5, 1922 Patented Get. 2%, lgiti.

UNTTEE laid-4,476

HOWARD V. OLBRIEII, 0F CI-IICAGG, ILLINOIS.

BUDGET BOOK.

Application filed June 5,

This invention relates to budget and account books; its object is to provide a simple, economical and ellicient budget and account book, whereby control of expenditures may be effected and a budget system of expenditures readily followed and observed.

It is Well recognized that expenditures may be most efficiently controlled by establishing a budget system whereby the amount which may be spent monthly for .each division of expenditure is established. The difficulties with such system are mainly in their observance. It is only the exceptional person who consistently records his purchases, and who knows always the unexpended balance of each budget item. All records which require calculating, transfer of figures from one sheet to another, and bookkeeping however crude, are limited in their general usefulness because they will not be used consistently by ordinary persons.

The most economical method of expenditure is the cash method, the reason being that one cannot purchase without paying cash. When the. cash is running low, purchases are made with care. The most extravagant method of expenditure is the charge method, because the restrictions of the cash method are all absent. v

In recognition of these fundamentals of economical expenditure I have developed a budget and book system whereby (a) The budget system can be observed without any further book-keeping than the exercise of a little mental arithmetic..

' (b) All the records may be kept in a small and inexpensive book easily carried on the person, and for the matter, without even resorting to a pencil.

(c) The spender has available the restraining influence of the cash system so that he is constantly reminded of the amount he has spent (in dollars) and of the amount of his budget he has left to spend just as he would if he were making purchases from an actual store of cash.

In making up the book I eliminate consideration of cents, recording only dollars. This results in a great saving of space, and if the amounts spent are recorded in terms of the nearest integral number of dollars, the result is surprisingly accurate.

In the drawings, which represent an illustrative embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of one of the budget sheets.

1922. Serial No. 565,900.

Figure 2 is a similar View of a portion of the sheet enlarged.

Figure 3 is similar to Figure 2.

Figure l is a view of the inside cover of the budget book.

Figure 5 is a view of the front of the book.

Referring to the drawings,

T provide a book consisting of a number of sheets, in this instance one sheet for each month and so labelled as shown at 2. On the sheets are a series of subdivisions, consisting of blocks 3 of successive numerals, eachlabelled with the name of a division of expenditures such as clothes, doctors etc. The numerals, beginning at 1, run to a number conside ably higher than the number of dollars monthly expended by an average family for the particular item in question. Each block of figures is arranged in columns or rows of lOs, subdivided by a. heavy line into 5s. Associated with each block of figures may be a blank space a marked over and under as shown. Thus the book, exclusive of the covers, later described, in this instance, will contain 12 sheets, one for each month, and is small enough to be carried in the pocket.

The person carrying the book, having settled the monthly expenditure, in dollars, for each of the items-or in other words, the monthly budget for that item, first puts a ring around the appropriate number in each table of each sheet. This records the budget. Thus, in Figure 2 the monthly budget for clothes is $55.00, as indicated on all the sheets of the book by the ring 5.

New, whenever any expenditure is made under this head, including charged items, the corresponding nearest number of dollars is marked oif. Thus in Figure 2 the marks there shown would result from the following purchases: first $7.00 was spent (as indicated by the line 6) next $25.60 was charged, $26.00 more being marked off, making a total of $33.00 indicated by the mark I; then $18.00 was spent, total $51.00 indicated by mark 03, leaving unexpended, for clothes, $4.00 in that month, A glance at the sheet indicates the exact situation at all times. The numbers being arranged in col umn of 1.0s subdivided into 5s, an accurate idea of the unexpended balance may be reached merely by glancing at the block of figures. If the sheet (Figure 2) represents the situation at the end of the month, the

person carrying the book may either deposit the Eta-.00 saved in the savings account, correspondingly marking that table 01 figures or credit it to next months budget, as shown in Figure 3, where the budget circle, as shown, is moved from $55.06 to $59.00. Similarly, it the budget is exceeded, the amount by which it is exceeded may be marked on the next months budget as an expenditure.

I provide the space a for convenient record of the situation at the end of each month. Thus the end of May the figure a in space 4 shows that %.00 was saved in the clothes budget that month.

It will be apparent that it is the work of a moment to keep this budget book upall that is required is the marking oil of purchases as made, the entire situation with respect to each item is immediately apparent from glance at the book. As a matter of fact, it is not necessary to have a pencil to operate the budget; the numbers corresponding to the purchases can be marked with the thumb nail, a match, hairpin, or anything else, which will puncture or leave a visible indentation or mark o1 any kind on the paper, and the light marks 6 and S in Figure 2 are supposed to indicate marks made with the thumb nail.

The book, comprising, in this instance 12 sheets, is bound in covers 11 and 12. ()n the front of the book may be entered an annual and monthly budget in appropriate table" as shown at 13. Inside the rear cover 12 are provided spaces for a summarized statement of expenditures taken from the marked figures in the book, which indicate the expenditure for each item.

One of these budget books may be car ried by each member of a family making expenditures. By eliminating cents from consideration, with a result accurate enough for all practical purposes and providing the arrangement shown, the books are made so small and inexpensive that they may be given away by savings banks.

I claim:

1. A pocket budget book made up of sheets allotted to the month of the year and correspondingly labelled, a plurality of blocks of successive numerals on the sheets, said blocks being arranged in a plurality of vertical and horizontal rows, each block being labelled to indicate a division of expenditure.

2. A pocket budget book made up of sheets allotted to the month of the year and correspondingly labelled, blocks of successive numerals on the sheets, said blocks being arranged in a plurality of vertical and horizontal rows, each block being labelled to indicate a division of expenditure, an appropriately designated blank space associated with each block of numerals in which to indicate the relation of expenditure to budget.

3. A bulget account comprising ttorm sheets allotted to the several months oil. the year, each sheet being ruled to form blocks oi. successive squares, each block designating a division of expenditure, and said squares bearing successive numerical designations to indicate the expenditures in each division.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 31st day of May, A. 1)., 1922.

HOWARD V. OBRIEN. 

